Latest Continuum Explores Neurologic Consultation in the Hospital

October 6, 2011

“Neurologic consultations in the hospital are an important part of nearly every neurologist’s practice,” said Guest Editor S. Andrew Josephson, MD, Associate Professor of Neurology and Director of the Neurohospitalist Program at the University of California, San Francisco. “In this issue of Continuum, we highlight common consultation questions (e.g., spells, weakness, altered mental status) and provide a practical approach to dealing with complex problems. Neurologists will be able to use this issue to improve their consultation skills and provide more useful advice to their colleagues.”

Specifically, this issue includes articles on altered mental status, spells, meningitis and encephalitis, stroke as a complication of acute cardiac disease, in-hospital falls, the evaluation of patients with increased intracranial pressure, and prognosis after hypoxic-ischemic brain injury. It also includes an ethics case discussion on physician disagreement regarding a case of nonconvulsive status epilepticus and a practice-related article on communication failures across facilities and at hospital discharge. The issue wraps up with helpful Current Procedural Terminology evaluation and management coding for neurologic consultations.

We welcome your feedback about any of the articles included in Continuum and will publish them online and in print. Send correspondence and letters to Editor-in-Chief Aaron Miller, MD, FAAN, at aweiss@aan.com.